Charles Brandt

“they wanted the guy left right there on the sidewalk as a message to those who needed to know the guy did…

— Charles Brandt

“During the dinner Bill said something to Jimmy I’ll never forget. He said, “I’ve never seen a man walk straight through a…

— Charles Brandt

“It was a problem that needed squaring away and I squared it away for them. By now it seemed like it was…

— Charles Brandt

“When a reporter asked Bobby Kennedy what he would do if Hoffa were acquitted, Bobby Kennedy, who said he had “never considered…

— Charles Brandt

“Y-Y-Yeah, and I d-do my own carpentry work, too.” I was embarrassed because I was stammering. “That’s what I wanted to hear.…

— Charles Brandt

“The meeting had been called to settle down the potential problems that could have erupted in the wake of the October 1957…

— Charles Brandt

“It was different in the sixties when I married my second wife, Irene, and I had my fourth daughter, Connie. By then…

— Charles Brandt

“Russell Bufalino had secret interests in Las Vegas casinos and not-so secret connections to the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, whom Fidel Castro…

— Charles Brandt

“The Teamsters pension fund organized by Hoffa almost immediately became a source of loans to the national crime syndicate known to the…

— Charles Brandt

“You’d take cabbies aside and you’d explain the benefits of being organized, and you’d ask them to sign a union card. If…

— Charles Brandt

“And on the other side of the ledger, unions like the Teamsters often employed their own muscle, their own reigns of terror,…

— Charles Brandt

“Jimmy did a lot of business with our friends, but he always did it on Jimmy Hoffa’s terms. That pension fund was…

— Charles Brandt

“Sometime in the fifties I remember seeing On the Waterfront in the movies with Mary and thinking that I’m at least as…

— Charles Brandt

“Jimmy Hoffa once said to Frank Sheeran enthusiastically, “If you got it, Irish, a truck driver brought it to you. Don’t ever…

— Charles Brandt

“Future presidential candidates Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona and Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts were members of the committee. The committee’s…

— Charles Brandt

“they wanted the guy left right there on the sidewalk as a message to those who needed to know the guy did…

— Charles Brandt

“They started inviting me into the Messina Club at Tenth and Tasker, which is a members-only joint where you get the best…

— Charles Brandt

“A union is only as strong as its weakest member. Once there is dissension the employer senses it and takes advantage of…

— Charles Brandt

“One afternoon a bunch of us went downtown to sell our blood for $10 a pint to get some more money to…

— Charles Brandt

“Charlie explained to me that an exploding shell is going to spread its shrapnel on an angle upward. You get down and…

— Charles Brandt

“But back then we had to amuse ourselves, and fighting seemed to be all we had. Looking back, it was good for…

— Charles Brandt

“As I learned the ropes I learned that for many good and sound reasons the bosses and the captains sent a guy…

— Charles Brandt

“One night Jimmy wasn’t supposed to be coming home and I had a gallon of wine in the window cooling off. Jimmy…

— Charles Brandt

“Russell Bufalino’s penetrating good eye stayed on mine. I moved back up in my seat. I couldn’t show anything in my face.…

— Charles Brandt

“The only thing is that Whispers had the worst breath known to man or beast. He suffered from halitosis so bad you’d…

— Charles Brandt

“I got a little carried away one day and sold my entire load of meat on my way to a delivery in…

— Charles Brandt

“(It was a car they said I got under the table. When they were trying to get the eight of us Hoffa…

— Charles Brandt

“He had that smile on his round, craggy face you get when you squint at the sun. He had muscle deterioration in…

— Charles Brandt

“Now I understood why Russell would ask me to drive him to different places and wait for him in the car while…

— Charles Brandt

“Running up out of the surf on to the beach at St. Tropez I thought I was shot. I looked down and…

— Charles Brandt

“did a lot of wine drinking overseas. I used the wine over there the way the jeeps used gasoline. And I kept…

— Charles Brandt

“Bill handed me an envelope. I handed it back to him. I told him, “I’ll do a friend a favor.” Russell had…

— Charles Brandt

“As Hoffa told Johnny Dio in one of those wiretapped conversations that he couldn’t remember: “… treat them right and you don’t have…

— Charles Brandt

“You didn’t know who to trust, but you kept taking cabbies aside and persuading them to sign a card. For some reason…

— Charles Brandt

“I went to work for the union around the time all this was going on, right after Jimmy got the president’s job.…

— Charles Brandt

“That’s right, yeah. I told him I’d be in Detroit tomorrow. I better start driving right now.” “Don’t be in such a…

— Charles Brandt

“Russell had lost the thumb and index finger on his left hand when he was young. He moved the thumb he still…

— Charles Brandt

“A couple of weeks later Russell told me that Joey Glimco was Giuseppe Primavera. He had been with Al Capone and was…

— Charles Brandt

“Jimmy looked at me and said, “I think you should stay in Chicago for a while.” And what a town that turned…

— Charles Brandt

“Before a battle or a landing, you get a little nervous tension. Once the shooting starts it goes away. You don’t have…

— Charles Brandt